The present invention relates to an improved combination wheelchair-gurney apparatus that is designed to convert from a wheelchair configuration into a gurney and also assists transferring a patient in the wheelchair-gurney apparatus to a bed or other horizontal surface. In the prior art, convertible bed and wheelchair devices as well as other invalid transferring arrangements are known. However, none of the prior art teaches or fairly suggests all of the features of the present invention including a wheelchair that may convert into a gurney and transfer a patient from the gurney to a bed or other horizontal surface. The following prior art is known to Applicant:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,169 to Shaffer discloses the concept of a wheeled structure that is readily convertible between a full-sized bed and a wheelchair. This is different from the teachings of the present invention in that the unit as described by the Shaffer patent does not include mechanism to facilitate transferring the patient from the bed arrangement onto another like bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,104 to Grantham discloses the concept of a convertible hospital bed that includes mechanism to assist moving a patient that is in the bed into a sitting position and off the bed. The teachings of the Grantham patent are only generally related to the present invention and fail to include a wheelchair unit that is convertible into a gurney.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,352 to DiMatteo et al. discloses an arrangement combining a wheelchair with a bed, wherein the bed has mechanism that assists an invalid from the bed into a wheelchair with the wheelchair having mechanism to receive the invalid from the bed. The wheelchair unit of DiMatteo et al. is different from that of the present invention as failing to include structure which permits transfer of an invalid between a bed and a convertible wheelchair where the convertible wheelchair is located adjacent the side of the bed.